Slain SP Tahir Dawar’s family says govt yet to pay compensation amount

PESHAWAR: The family of martyred police officer Muhammad Tahir Dawar said the Pakistan Army had paid it Rs25 million as promised, but the federal government had yet to pay Rs70 million compensation announced by a minister of state last year.

The family members also criticized the government for the lack of progress in the probe into the murder of Superintendent of Police, Tahir Dawar, being carried out by the joint investigation team (JIT). Talking to The News, Nadia Tahir, daughter of late Tahir Dawar, said almost one year had passed since the murder of her father, but no tangible progress could be made in the investigation.

She recalled that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to her brother Amjad Tahir and her uncle Ahmaduddin Dawar that the government would investigate the case through the JIT.

Nadia Tahir recalled that the government had announced Rs70 million as compensation for her family, but the announcement was yet to be materialized. However, she said the Pakistan Army paid Rs25 million compensation to her family.

Ahmaduddin Dawar, the brother of the slain SP, said he had asked the prime minister to get probed the murder of his brother through an international commission, but he refused to do so by arguing that a UN commission had probed the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and its performance was unsatisfactory.

He said the prime minister had announced that a JIT would probe the murder. A seven-member JIT was formed on November 16 last year to probe the case. Ahmaduddin Dawar said that a notification was issued according to which the Superintendent of Police Investigation in Islamabad was made head the committee. He added that the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) at Islamabad Shalimar Circle, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from the Crime Investigation Department, investigating officer of the case and one representative each from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) were named members of JIT. He said the JIT called several friends of Tahir Dawar including former member provincial assembly Adnan Wazir, Brigadier Naeem Bhatti, Additional Accountant General Islamabad Sharifullah Khan, and others. “The friends told us that JIT questioned them like a team of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and asked questions about the assets of Tahir Dawar. The investigators didn’t pose questions about Tahir Dawar’s abduction and murder,” he added. Ahmaduddin Dawar claimed that the prime minister had promised to get the murder probed by a UN commission in case the family was not satisfied with the JIT report. “On December 3 last year, the prime minister also promised me that the government had formed a parliamentary committee to look into the JIT report and take the matter forward,” Ahmaduddin Dawar claimed. About the composition of the parliamentary committee, he said it was supposed to have five members, including three from the opposition. He asserted that the government had also promised that Member National Assembly, Mohsin Dawar, elected from North Waziristan, would be co-opted by the parliamentary committee. Tahir Dawar’s family also belongs to North Waziristan.

Ahmaduddin Dawar recalled that the then Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions Shahryar Khan Afridi on behalf of government had announced Rs70 million as compensation for the family of Tahir Dawar, but the amount hasn’t been paid yet. “I approached Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to seek the payment of the compensation amount, but he told me not to take the announcement of Shahryar Khan Afridi seriously,” he claimed. Tahir Dawar was kidnapped from Islamabad on October 26 last year and his body was recovered from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province after several weeks.